Daniel Osbourne (Buffyverse)
as Oz]] Daniel "Oz" Osbourne is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the cult television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. The character is portrayed by Seth Green. Appearances Television A taciturn, guitar-playing teen, and eventually Willow's boyfriend, Oz first appears in the episode "Inca Mummy Girl," becoming a recurring character throughout the second season and a main character in the third. In the fourth season, he leaves Sunnydale, heading off on his own to seek control over his werewolf side. He reappears years later in the canonical Buffy season 8 comic books. Oz's most outstanding trait is his detached, ironic approach to life, masking a deeply philosophical interior.Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Three, episode 18, "Earshot" He is also the lead guitarist for the band Dingoes Ate My BabyBuffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Two, episode 4, "Inca Mummy Girl", which performs frequently at The Bronze. A high school senior, one year above Willow and the rest of the group, he "tests well", but his only real ambition lies in his music. He notices Willow in spite of—or perhaps because of—her Eskimo costume at a dance at The Bronze, and seems to be interested in her at first sight.Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Two, episode 4, "Inca Mummy Girl" It would take several episodes for the two to actually meet in person. They go into, according to Willow, "some sort of holding pattern, except without the holding or... anything else", even though they had several dates, on one of which he witnesses a vampire being dusted by Buffy for the first time, and thus becoming a member of the Scooby Gang. He is not shocked to learn vampires exist and merely remarks it explains a lot. He and Willow eventually share their first kiss and become a couple at the end of the season two episode "Phases". "Phases" is also the episode where he finds he has become a werewolf, turning into a monster on the three nights around a full moon, having been bitten on his finger by his pre-adolescent cousin Jordy. (Interestingly, when Oz calls Jordy's mother, his Aunt Maureen, to ask if Jordy is a werewolf, Maureen is apparently unfazed by the question and readily confirms Jordy's condition, indicating Oz is not the only exceptionally laid-back member of his family.) On his third night as a wolf, Oz is nearly killed by werewolf hunter Gib Cain for his pelt, but is saved by Buffy and the Scooby Gang, with whose help he quickly finds a way to minimize the danger posed by the wolf: he locks himself into a cage for the appropriate nights, watched over by the Scoobies in shifts. Even though he is intelligent (so much so that he, along with Willow, was tracked for a time by "the world's leading software concern") he does not manage to graduate, due to several incompletes and failing to attend summer school.Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Three, episode 1, "Anne" He repeats his senior year, now being in the same year as the rest of the gang, and graduates simultaneously with them. During this year, his relationship with Willow goes through rough water as he and Cordelia catch Xander and Willow kissing. They break up, but get back together again after Oz confesses he misses her ("Amends"). In the episode "Graduation Day, Part One", Oz and Willow have sex before the impending confrontation with the evil Mayor Wilkins, concerned they might die in battle. Willow loses her virginity as a result, but Oz had already lost his. After graduation, Oz attends UC Sunnydale, together with Buffy and Willow, and is seen taking 'Introduction to Psychology' by Professor Walsh along with them. Unlike the other two, he does not have a dorm room, but stays in a house off campus along with the rest of the band.Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Four, episode 1, "The Freshman" Because the cage he used to lock himself up on the nights around the full moon was destroyed (along with the rest of the library and Sunnydale High) during the fight against the mayor, he now locks himself up into a cage in a crypt at a local cemetery. While appearing to the outside world as to have come to terms with his lycanthropy rather easily, evidence arises he indeed does hold great fear of his werewolf side ("Fear, Itself"), and especially hurting others with it.Writer David Fury in The Monster Book (2000) by C. Golden, S.R. Bisette and T.E. Sniegoski, New York: Pocket Books, page 51. ISBN 0-671-04259-9. "... The fears are personalized: Oz fears hurting Willow ...." Moreover, gradually, he starts to see he and the wolf aren't as separate as he'd like to believe: although in love with Willow, he is irresistibly drawn to another werewolf, Veruca, a fellow UC Sunnydale student, who, unlike Oz, considers the wolf to be her true self. After spending a night in the cage with Veruca, and killing her at the following sunset to protect Willow''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', Season Four, episode 6, Wild at Heart, Oz resolves to leave Sunnydale so as not to endanger his friends further. He travels through Mexico, Romania and eventually Tibet, where Buddhist monks teach him to suppress his transformations during the full moon with the help of charms, herbs, chanting and meditiation.Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Four, episode 19, New Moon RisingBuffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, issue 27, Retreat Here he also meets a young Tibetan girl and fellow werewolf, Bayarmaa, nicknamed Bay, who tends to him during his stay in the monastery and with whom he meditates. Some months later, Oz returns to Sunnydale, believing his lycanthropy is now under control. Although the moon no longer affects him, he can still transform into the werewolf when faced with strong emotion ("negative stimulation"), such as anger or pain, as he discovers when he finds Tara Maclay has replaced him in Willow's affections, and when The Initiative seizes him for its experiments. This transformation can occur during the day. After that discovery, Oz leaves Sunnydale for good (reflecting Seth Green's decision to move on and pursue his film career) soon after the Scoobies, assisted by Riley, break him out of the Initiative complex. He and Willow leave on friendly terms; she even admits she expects to run into him again at some point in her life. After Sunnydale Oz returns to Tibet to continue the Buddhist practices of herbs, chants and meditation to hold back the wolf, but realizes nothing works anymore. He is tempted to give in to his wolf side and lose himself in it, but doesn't, when Bayarmaa tells him about the original Tibetan religion Bon. The two study the original scriptures and build upon the religion to make their own traditions, which come down to seeing the spiritual life in all things in the world and being quietly aware that they are part of it all. The secret lies in not bottling up the wolf, but letting the energy of it flow through you without taking you, letting it pass into the world around you, and "the wolf is pulled into the earth." Oz and Bayarmaa become involved and eventually have a son together, who they name Kelden. The word about their accomplishments spreads, prompting other werewolves to come to Tibet in hope of a cure. One of them was Monroe, and although his progress was promising, he went out into the world too soon. He "got tempted, lost his focus, to let the power pass through him," and soon headed a group with beliefs similar to those of Veruca. During a full moon they enter the monastery killing many of the monks, and intending to kill Bayarmaa and Oz if not for Bay transforming and killing Monroe first, prompting the rest of the group to flee. The group still poses a danger to Oz and his family, who now carry knives with them at all times.Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Issue 27, Retreat Part Two Literature In Retreat Part One, Buffy and the army of Slayers are under intense fire from the public (in response to Harmony Kendall's vampire rights spokesmanship) and from Big bad Twilight, able to track them down due to their use of magic. To evade Twilight, Buffy has Willow cast one last spell to take the submarine full of Slayers, witches and their Watchers to the Tibetan mountains so Oz may show them how to suppress their magical natures and lie low. As the submarine appears in the mountains Oz's reaction is merely "huh", displaying little surprise in his typical manner. He agrees to help Buffy and her Slayers but also realizes the considerable danger she has brought to his doorstep. Concept and creation Oz originated as a temporary cast member for the show. He was based on a student with whom Buffy-creator Joss Whedon attended college, as Whedon mentions in his commentary on "Innocence" in the Season Two DVD boxed set. In the writers' original plans Oz was to be killed early in Season Two by a vampire, presumably Angelus, before this dubious honor went to Jenny Calendar. The plan changed, as shown in "Phases" when Oz's plot is expanded as he becomes a werewolf. On the season 4 featurette: Oz Revelations: A Full Moon, the writers related Oz's inner werewolf to the dark urges every person encompasses. Even Oz, being a stoic and calm persona, still had a strong and violent force inside, which became increasingly harder to control. In several episodes during Season Four, Oz can be seen wearing a sheepskin jacket, alluding to the Aesopian fable, origin of the well-known phrase "a wolf in sheep's clothing". Other media Oz also appears in Buffy expanded universe. He appears in a few comics/novels, most notably the trade paperback Oz and the novel Oz: Into the Wild, which follow his quest to control his wolf-side after his departure in "Wild at Heart". He also appears in the novel "Queen of the Slayers". In this novel the forces of evil amass to kill Buffy for destroying the Hellmouth in Sunnydale. During a quest, she encounters Oz, the apparent leader of a pack of werewolves which protect the Golden One. Oz and the other werewolves can now completely control their wolf forms and they take part in the final battle of the book during a full moon. References Category:Angel (TV series) characters Category:Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters Category:Buffyverse werewolves Category:Fictional vampire hunters Category:Fictional rock musicians Category:Fictional University of California alumni Category:Fictional characters from California Category:1997 introductions